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In the Handicapping Challenge, Brian Mazurek continues to lead the way with 52 victories while Wayne Teaven is next in line with 45 and Paige Usiak 36.
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Things are really beginning to bunch up at the top of the Buffalo Raceway driver's standings as Jim Morrill Jr. continues to show the way with 33 victories but defending champion Billy Davis Jr. is close behind with 31 and Kevin Cummings with 27.
Morrill Jr. found the winner's circle twice on the week with both victories coming on Wednesday evening. He still leads the UDR ratings with .449.
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Driver Kevin Cummings |
Davis Jr. crept closer thanks to a four-win stretch, getting three on Wednesday and adding a single on Saturday.
Cummings, who is just three victories shy from hitting the 4,000-win plateau in his career, had five on the week including a four-bagger on Saturday night along with one on Wednesday to keep himself in the thick of the race. He is also the top purse earner among the drivers with $140,059.
Shawn McDonough had three victories on the week, getting two on Wednesday and adding another on Saturday.
Ray Fisher Jr., who is in fourth place in the rankings, collected three wins on the week, posting a single on Wednesday and adding two more on Saturday.
David McNeight III was the only other with multiple driving wins on the week, get one on both the Wednesday and Saturday programs.
There were 12 different drivers who had at least one win on the week.
Buffalo Raceway's Driver's Standings (Wins, UDR, Purse Earnings)
1. Jim Morrill Jr. (33, .449, $134,660)
2. Billy Davis Jr. (31, .323, $137,061)
3. Kevin Cummings (27, .372, $140,059)
4. Ray Fisher Jr. (17, .259, $108,417)
4. David McNeight III (16, .246, $109,463)
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While Shawn McDonough was finding success in the sulky last week, he also made three visits to the winner's circle as a trainer. He posted two wins on Wednesday and added another on Saturday which pushed him into the top five in the trainer's standings with eight victories.
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Trainer/driver Shawn McDonough |
Lee Dahn's stable is beginning to heat up as he produced three wins on the week with one coming on Wednesday and two on Saturday's card.
Gerry Sarama continues to show the way atop the leaderboard with 31 wins. He had two victories on Wednesday to increase his margin over second place Maria Rice to 13. Sarama is the top purse earner with $134,400.
Rice had one win during the week and continues to lead the way in the UTR rankings with a .419 score.
Trainer/driver
Jim Graham had two scores on the week with one coming on each of the Wednesday and Saturday cards.
Ryan Swift, who is in fourth place in the standings, scored a double on Saturday to move her total to nine.
There were 17 different conditioners who had at least one winner during the 24-race week.
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Buffalo Raceway's Trainer's Standings (wins, UTR, Purse Earnings)
1. Gerry Sarama (31, .395, $134,400)
2. Maria Rice (18, .419, $81,745)
3. Jim McNeight (10, .193, $50,415)
4. Ryan Swift (9, .259, $40,500)
5. Shawn McDonough (8, .203, $46,790)
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The handle for the week showed $329,945 for the 12-race program on Wednesday while Saturday's 12-race card was $238,330 for a total of $568,275 of and a nightly average of $284,137. The previous week's total handle was $396,599.
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The Pick 5 and Pick 4 wagers are becoming more and more popular and some nice payouts have been made. I will be keeping track of the payouts as the season rolls along. The Pick 5 begins each night in the second race and the Pick 4 starts in the seventh race with all having a base wager of 50 cents. The average Pick 5 payoff has been $1898.38 and the Pick 4 is $420.44.
The largest payoff of the season in the Pick 4 happened on Saturday with a price returned of $2,015.25
There will be a guaranteed pool of $3,000 in the Pick 5 on Wednesday night beginning in the second race..
Pick-5
Date/Payoff:
1/27/2021: $499.50
1/30/2021: No winner
2/3/2021: $971.50
2/6/2021: Racing cancelled
2/10/2021: $2,250.00
2/13/2021: No winner
2/17/2021: $149,25
2/20/2021: Racing cancelled
2/24/2021: Racing cancelled
2/27/2021: Racing cancelled
3/3/2021: $642.50
3/6/2021: No winner
3/10/2021: $676.00
3/13/2021: $1,685.50
3/17/2021: No winner
3/20/2021: $6,789.00
3/24/2021: No winner
3/27/2021: $4,654.50
3/31/2021: Racing cancelled
4/3/2021: Racing cancelled
4/7/2021: $2,250.00
4/10/2021: $314.50
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Pick 4:
Date/Payoff:
1/27/2021: $164,50
1/29/2021: $353.50
2/3/2021: $88.00
2/6/2021: Racing cancelled
2/10/2021: $16.70
2/13/2021: $833.00
2/17/2021: $744.50
2/20/2021: Racing cancelled
2/24/2021: Racing cancelled
2/27/2021: Racing cancelled
3/3/2021: $95.00
3/6/2021: $1,179.00
3/10/2021: $230.75
3/13/2021: $82.75
3/17/2021: $410.50
3/20/2021: $272.50
3/24/2021: $15.60
3/27/2021: $71.00
3/31/2021: Racing cancelled
4/3/2021: Racing cancelled
4/7/2021: $63.50
4/10/2021: $2,105.25
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Once again, I'd like to thank Buffalo Raceway photographer Bill Burke for supplying me with great shots he takes all season long. If you'd like a picture or other items he can make of your horse, go to
www.creeksideimagery.com/buffaloraceway and Bill will take care of all you needs.
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The four, five and six post was the hot spots during the 24-race week with the four slot leading the way with five while the five and six followed closely with four apiece.
The five post still leads the way on the season with 36 victories while the four hole is next with 34and the one with 31.
Every post on the starting grid had at least one win on the week with the exception of the eight which was blanked.
Wins by post position (week/year):
1. 3 (31)
2. 3 (26)
3. 3 (25)
4. 5 (34)
5. 4 (36)
6. 4 (14)
7. 2 (11)
8. 0 (4)
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The post time favorites at Buffalo Raceway are hitting at a 41.04 clip. On Wednesday evening, the favorites took 4-of-12 while Saturday night saw the favorites take 4-of-12 races with favorites winning 8 of the 24 events on the week for a 33.33 percentage.
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A pair of pacers have taken the lead for the most wins at Buffalo Raceway on the campaign as Robintheatm and Santana Beach each found the winner's circle four times this season.
Surprisingly, there are now 30 horses tied second with two victories on the season at Buffalo Raceway. A total of 18 pacers have two wins while 12 trotters have notched a pair of victories.
Santana Beach is the leading money winner at the track as the pacer has put $16,614 in the bank. The leading trotter in purse earnings is Mr Quaker with $9,560.
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Buffalo Raceway will resume action on Wednesday night at 5 p.m. with an 10-race card scheduled. The racing then will continue on Saturday evening with another 6 p.m. post.
There will be a guaranteed pool of $3,000 in the Pick 5 which begins in the second race.
Note that there will not be any Friday night racing in April as previously scheduled.
For more information including entries, replay, results and entries, go to
www.buffaloraceway.com or follow along on Facebook or Twitter. You can also watch the replay of each night's feature event at the bottom of that night's story on the Buffalo Raceway news page.